The Story of 1 (One) - Terry Jones - BBC

[UniversalRee]

I like to watch Terry Jones because of his lisp.

[sbergman27]

Marcus du Sautoy, the modern mathematician featured in this video, has his own excellent, if less jaunty, 3 part BBC Horizon series "The Story of Maths". Writing, production, and content all first class. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed this.

[BroadwayJosh]

Bravo!

[nonstoperoticshows]

"I'd much preferred working with Michael Palin"... brilliant!!!

[polka23dot]

My favorite numeral system is the octal system.

In 1801, James Anderson criticized the French for basing the Metric system on decimal arithmetic. He suggested base 8 for which he coined the term octal. He also suggested a purely octal system of weights and measures.

In the mid 19th century, Alfred B. Taylor concluded that: Our octonary [base 8] radix is, therefore, beyond all comparison the "best possible one" for an arithmetical system.

Ygyde language uses self-explanatory, octal digits.

[sbergman27]

@polka23dot I administer business desktop systems in Oklahoma. The default weather applet for our desktop panel defaults to metric units. The comments I get are along the lines of "Why do they make it start out with that meters and celsiwhatever stuff?". Good luck getting the American midwest converted to octal. ;-)

[polka23dot]

@sbergman27 Nearly the whole world has gone metric. The three holdouts are Yemen, Myanmar (formerly Burma), and USA. The American Rodeo Cowboy Association fought the metric system as a "communist plot to overthrow the US". The United States tried adopting the metric system since 1875. In 1975, Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, but the idea died out in the Reagan years. Will the American dinosaurs ever learn the metric system? (I am naturalized U.S. citizen.)

[sbergman27]

@polka23dot Nearly the entire world has learned English, as well. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans are mono-lingual. The US is used to having the world cater to us. I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of Americans who are currently adults will never learn another measurement system or another language. When young people here become comfortable with Metric, that will be the tipping point. As US science declines relative to that of Europe things may change for better or worse.

[polka23dot]

Ancient Indian astronomers did not know that the earth orbits the sun. Indian astronomer named Nilakantha Somayaji (1444–1544), in his Aryabhatiyabhasya, a commentary on Aryabhata's Aryabhatiya, developed a computational system for a partially heliocentric planetary model, in which the planets orbit the Sun, which in turn orbits the Earth.

The first person known to have proposed correct heliocentric system was Aristarchus of Samos (c. 270 BC).

[aeolus75]

big thanks for sharing, and big thanks to BBC :)

[OtakuViking]

Looks like Go stones at 28:30 o.o.o.o

[Oldenyouth]

This ONE is the ONE I've been looking for, for this ONE has answered MANY of my questions.

[SkinnnedHead]

Bye everyone, I think I'm gonna watch "1001 Arabian nights" ....zzzzzzzzzzzzz

[KnightSmoking]

Thanks for the upload. I love Jones documentaries. Its not only the very good humor, but also it refers to things that are rarely mentioned in other documentaries. Too bad there are not a lot of them.

[Ziqman10]

@DragonZhengYew Hey Zheng Yew. This Amir from 102

[DragonZhengYew]

@Ziqman10 Hey there

[rakeshhpr]

Interesting that the contribution from Indians haven't been mentioned. Not just pythagoras theorem but some of the most fundamentals to the advanced levels of of Mathematics are already presented in the Vedic scriptures. Though being an Indian, I am not in favor of any part of the world when it comes to advancements in Science and Technology but I believe that facts must be genuine and authentic when propagated. Islam and Hindu Vedas are the two major contributors of Mathematics and Astronomy.

[RevNoah]

@rakeshhpr Keep watching. They're later in the other parts of the series.

[sbergman27]

@rakeshhpr "but I believe that facts must be genuine and authentic when propagated"

That's nice. However, you obviously *don't* believe in watching the F'ing video before commenting. Indian accomplishments were mentioned where there is actual evidence in support. Cryptic and ambiguous stanzas which could mean anything, cherry-picked out of the mash of nonsense in old religious texts, don't count.

[rakeshhpr]

@sbergman27:I respect your viewpoint but I'd like to say that Ancient Vedic scriptures were far more sophisticated than during the times of origin of number system.Astronomy,Mathematics,t­he Big bang theory,Quantum Mechanics,theory of relativity,Schrodinger's cat experiment,Atomic physics,singularity and duality,ALL NEWTONS LAWS OF GRAVITY/MOTION,electromagnetic spectrum,optics etc

-just a partial list among the mash of nonsense

[sbergman27]

@rakeshhpr I respect *verifiable facts*. This is not a matter of "viewpoint". You are making concrete claims; Sufficient supporting evidence is required. Please produce specific references to unambiguous statements in your documents which validate your claims. Until such evidence is produced, your hyperbolic claims are valueless. I could claim that Menes of Egypt accomplished all those things plus cold fusion, & have  exactly as much credibility as do you & your extraordinary claims.

[rakeshhpr]

@sbergman27 : I will post the link of my Blog in which you'll find everything you need. I really appreciate your curiosity because not many have had debates with me off late and I like debates since they fortify the very foundation of our understanding. I will get back in a while.

[rakeshhpr]

here you go: analogisfun(dot)wordpress(dot)­(com)/2012/02/25/vedic-physics­-the-best-kept-secret/

[sbergman27]

@rakeshhpr When evaluating, I first scan for obvious factual errors. e.g. your claimed source, the "vaisheshika sutra" was wriiten by Kanada, in 2nd century BC. Not "more than 5000 years ago" as you claim. So that work is 300yrs after Democritus.

I then look to primary sources, but have found no unbiased translation of VS for cross-checking the obviously highly massaged interpretations you provide. Your "VS x.x.x" citations are useless without a way to verify.

(Cont'd)

[sbergman27]

@rakeshhpr (Cont'd) Further, had Newton said "The Earth's mass attracts a pencil & that's why it falls" it would not have been science. Instead he said quantitatively: F⃗=ma⃗ & F⃗=G*m₁m₂/r² & checked the results against observation. Even taking your claims @ face value.. where are the equations? Where are the testable predictions?

Impress me. Tell me if the Higgs will be found, & if so @ what energy? Show me the equation describing how the value of the Cosmological Constant varies with time.

[rakesh20023]

@sbergman27: What i am saying is that "everything is superficial in the eyes of the truth which is infinite" or to say "nothing is definite". I am not objecting on your argument, I will say that you are right. I too am in the same lane that you are in, I too have the same doubts.but, but, my responses are limited to my powers. I too am looking for the truth: I am using Internet to look for books which I hope aren't pampered. (cont)

[rakesh20023]

(cont) I wished i could impress you but I can't. I guess we both will get impressed by someone better than us. If you are so interested in Physics then we can work together rather than being inconclusive about our propositions. You might be more knowledgeable than me, you could help me in learning stuffs. I usually spend time on passionate people, i just want to make sure you are one. Get back to me if you think we can have a discussion central where we discuss our ideas out.

[sbergman27]

@rakesh20023 After thousands of yrs of false starts & unreliable methods, we now have 2 powerful tools for discovering truth: The Scientific Method & Mathematics; I defend them fiercely. Democritus was on the right track, qualitatively, with "atoms". But without a reliable method, it was mere philosophy. Aristotle's awful philosophy & enduring prestige set progress back over 1000yrs. Quantitative models & experimental falsification are of far greater value than even the best qualitative guesses.

[sbergman27]

@rakesh20023 Addendum: Sometimes I feel like I spend half of my time arguing with people who say that science is wrong but their holy book is right, and the other half addressing people who say that science is right but their holy book got there first, based upon interpretations of stanzas which make Nostradamus seem like Sally, Dick, & Jane by comparison. The Qu'ran cheerleaders are particularly egregious violators. But the bible-thumpers aren't far behind. The Veda folks seem better behaved.

[rakesh20023]

@sbergman27: u strive hard to bring into reality of what u imagine. Nothing is perfect when being conceptualized for the first time: a sculptor doesn't know how his sculpture shall turn out to be before/while sculpting. but wht instigated the sculptor to become a sculptor? Philosophy and science/chicken and egg r the same: u are too hasty if u feel u're being conclusive. I first suggest u to stop being self-aggrandizing because i too was like u few years back and it didn't help me.

[rakesh20023]

you must first understand that your inclination towards something you feel is logically sane is your first mistake. There have been many accidental inventions and scientists have been reverse engineering their luck into publishable-Applicable theses. don't underestimate philosophy like I did few years back. Philosophy is crude, amorphous and perplex. Science is just the refined, structured and simplified form of Philosophy. Vedanti's cyphered ordinary observations into poetic verses

[rakesh20023]

so that they could be recited and remembered. There is proof of rig veda being 5000+ years old, I am not an attorney and I let you do the homework. sciene is very new, it is a coalescence of years of observations and understandings. Like I said, I am not in favor of anything as of now because science has been disproving it's own findings. You are mistaking Truth with technology, theology with rationalism. How was evolution formed in the first place, before you could...

[rakesh20023]

...think of science to be enduring and philosophy to be old fashioned? how do you know that Qur'an/Bible followers were/are reprehensible and vedanti's behaved well? I am not discussing about any holy books and please don't mistake vedas with Qur'an/bible. Hinduism is not a religion at all, it is attributed to the lifestyles of oldest of organized civilizations. India is a poor nation but is rich in heritage which westerners won't/can't understand. I can't spoon feed you with more..

[rakesh20023]

...evidences. You do the homework if you are interested. I have passed through that phase. I am curious about great minds, not great people. I am curious about Higgs field, not Higgs. i can give you one hint though: we pick up tones and features from our parent but we have more features of nature being the ultimate truth since we're made of elementary particles. all we need to do is recognize ourself, not the way we appear in the mirror.

[sbergman27]

@rakesh20023 "u strive hard to bring into reality of what u imagine."

You, who got bored with reality & decided to take up religion simply because you felt like it, are hardly in a good position to argue that point. (Yes, I'm aware of the attempts by Hunduism & Buddhism to pass themselves off as "non-religions".) If you want to believe fairy tales based upon no evidence, I'm not going to waste further time trying to save you from yourself. There's no help for self-inflicted irrationality.

[rakeshhpr]

@sbergman27: you are an Idiot. nuff said.

[DragonZhengYew]

Thumbs up if ur watching this for ur sch hmwrk :D

[OtakuViking]

@DragonZhengYew What happened to vocals?

[VixieVaporous]

Terry Jones, sir, one of these days I am going to meet you and thank you for what you have done to Television.

[AtheistsAreSkeptics]

This one really makes me LOOOL 1:59

[TheChiquechick]

I'm going to show this to my students...I think it was great!

[MrPasseKlein]

Worst shit ever! Fuck you Terry Jones.

[dgillagorilla1]

I agree with AfroZero, there are one hundred and one ways to skin a cat.

British humour, it's the best !

[hla27b]

Ahh Terry Jones

always a pleasure

[leprechaunor]

what the fuck

[AfroZero]

I give this video 101 stars.